CAB9-1_PT1 — Page 204

No.29

Printed for the use of the Colonial Office. April 1894. Page 204 of 425

CONFIDENTIAL.

76-R

MALTA.

MALTA. 5.

2786.

Report of Local Joint Naval and Military Committee of

December 1893.

Remarks by Colonial Defence Committee.

THIS is a most carefully considered and practical Report, and, subject to the following remarks, the Committee concur in its recommendations :-

1. Conditions, p. 3.-The distance from Valetta to Goletta (Tunis) is 225 sea miles, not 180, as stated. Sfax, which is the next nearest probable hostile port, is 227 sea miles distant. This further increases the difficulty of a raid. Otherwise, the liability of Malta to torpedo-boat attack is correctly stated.

The first paragraph on p. 3, dealing with an attack in force on the island, appears to unduly discount the possibility of land operations.

While it is beyond question that a heavy attack is inconceivable so long as our naval command of the Mediterranean is maintained, the Colonial Defence Committee desire to repeat and to emphasize their remarks of December 1893 on this subject, viz., that "only a decided preponderance of British naval strength over any possible hostile combination could be con- sidered to place the contingency of such an attack beyond the sphere of reasonable probability, and if we do not possess that, or if the contending forces are evenly matched, the possibility of an attempted coup de main on Malta becomes not unreasonable." It is only with a view to such a contin- gency that Malta has been fortified, garrisoned, and provisioned on its present scale.

2. Harbour Arrangements.-The general principle of placing the whole of the Grand Harbour under naval control, and making the Quarantine Harbour the port of entry and examination anchorage under the control of the Customs Department, is the best arrangement possible under the circumstances of the case. When the arrangements are finally approved, they should be inserted in the printed sailing directions and posted at Lloyd's, as well as published when war is imminent at the chief Mediterranean ports and in the Shipping Gazettes of the day.

It appears desirable that all vessels entering the examination anchorage should be obliged to anchor, viz., bring-up, not merely bring-to, as otherwise it would be difficult to be certain whether they were acting in disregard of the examining officer, but the procedure to be followed must be settled by the local authorities. It should lie with the discretion of the Officer Commanding Fort Manoel to open fire in this case rather than with that of the Officer Commanding Fort Tigné, and a definite line in front of the secondary mine-

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